get it, and I just wanted to get it
done today."
Ashburn's championship was
the culmination of 10 years and
122 starts.
"Yeah, it's been a long go, but
it's been worth it," said Ashburn.
"Here we are in the end, and
we've got a national champion-
ship. These past two years, it's
just been consistency. That's
what I try to build our whole
program off of. Line up every
single race and get points. I
always knew I could be as fast
as everybody else. We put the
whole thing together this year,
just being on that box every
race, but two so far this year, it's
unbelievable. To have this team
around me and the support, it's
just amazing."
DeLong tried to mix things
up near the end of the race by
going an extra lap than Ashburn
and Steward Baylor before pit-
ting for fuel, which gave him the
lead on the final lap, although he
did have to do a splash-and-go
on the final circuit. The Millfield
track is where DeLong got his
first win in the XC2 class.
"It came across my mind a
couple times that I was leading,
and I had to calm myself back
down," said DeLong. "But it was
good; it kept me going. That's
one of my goals was to lead a
race this year, so I can check
that box. It was a lot of… not
pressure, but I knew I had to try
to get away. I went all out with
two laps to go, and I just needed
a little bit more at the end."
DeLong's Rockstar Energy
Husqvarna teammate Thad Duvall
made it an all Husqvarna podium
and his second podium in a row
since returning to action from
injury, however, the West Virginia
rider was not pleased with third.
"I just didn't feel comfortable
all day and I'm pretty disappoint-
ed," said DeLong. "I switched
the tire before the race and
should have just stuck with what I
know. I don't think I was the fast-
est out of the group that we were
in. I just kind of outlasted the
guys; I felt like I could have gone
another lap. I'm on the podium,
but at the end of the day, I want
to win bad."
Coastal Racing GasGas' Ricky
Russell was in the mix all day and
ran as high as second behind
Ashburn at one point, but fell on
a hillclimb and got stuck, losing
considerable time.
"After I fell, I recovered and
was behind Stew so I thought I
was in good shape," said Rus-
sell. "On two lap I caught up to
Craig, but at the nine-mile mark
I pulled a tear off and I ended up
pulling my goggle lens complete-
ly out and it was on the dustiest
part of track. I stopped and got
new goggles but I had film of
dirt in eyes and the top three
guys just got away. Me and Toth
battled from there and I ended
up fourth."
FMF/KTM's Josh Toth, who
VOLUME 59 ISSUE 39 SEPTEMBER 27, 2022 P33
Jonathan Girroir topped the XC2 class in seventh overall.
